Fortnightly blog on Random Generators, Tech Community and Coding

Formats for Your Meetup - Tech Alternatives

Lastly in our meetups for tech, we cover some alternatives to the standard tech talks format that don't fit elsewhere.

Workshop

Longer than the starndard meetup, this could be 2-3 hours or a whole day. You go deep into a topic or a few related topics usually with some type of coding exercises or learning activities.

You could run this yourself or with a local company, or get someone else in to run it.

These take more time to organise, as you will need a venue, you may need funds to cover costs and often you will need participants to do some work up front, installing software, answering questions or making sure they are up to a certain level in a subject.

Beginners Time

This could be at tech talk or a workshop, but it is aimed at those with no knowledge. If you want to increase numbers for your meetups or are starting off your meetup then consider some of these to begin with.

Beginners will come from a variety of backgrounds and tech skill levels, so you may be surpised at some of the questions that come up. Beginners are great at helping each other having often recently experienced the pain another is having in a subject.

Playing with Tech

This involves looking at new tech, often more fun than practical. You can introduce it, demonstrate it and look for ways to interact with it as techies.

Tech Exeter tried out the HoloLens in recent months and .NET Exeter were looking at skills training for the Amazon Alexa.

These are quite often popular with non-regulars, who may not want to spend an evening at a Tech Talk but will do something that sounds more like fun than work.

More Alternatives.

A Remote Software and Database Contractor specialised in Umbraco, Duncan works from wherever he finds himself. He is the co-organiser of the Python Exeter and Data Science Exeter meetup groups and speaks about Remote Working, Umbraco, Python and .NET
Outside of work he is keen on travel, random generation, foreign languages and good food.